Caryl short stories
by Adriana Adurens
Summary: What the title says. One-shot short stories and drabbles, mostly unrelated unless specified. Rating will always be M cause I can't keep the dirty thoughts out of my head. Formerly known as Tight Security.
1. Tight Security

Hi!** If it's your first time clicking on this fic**, you should know some important things before reading: every fanfiction here is a **separate one-shot**, that means each chapter will be a fanfic on itself. They **won't be related** unless if specified on author notes. They'll always be **short stories**, meaning they won't be longer than ten thousand words. They'll always be Caryl. I'm a Brazilian girl, which means that** you may see some English mistakes**. I'll be extremely grateful if you could point out these errors to me, so I can fix them later.

Enjoy reading! ;)

* * *

**Title:** Tight Security

**Author:** Adriana Adurens (drikadas at tumblr)

**Beta:** Nina Webster (betweenacts at tumblr)

**Standard disclaimers apply.**

**A.N.:** Thought something fluffy would do for my first time writing for twd fandom, hope you guys like it. ;)

* * *

"Maggie... What-what is this?", Carol whispers anxiously, grabbing the girl's arm and stopping her from stripping.

The girl looks behind her shoulder to Carol and her eyes goes extremely large once she realizes her friends problem, "... Oh."

"Yeah. Oh. I can't wear this... Thing."

Zipping up her new jeans, Lori lets out a soft laugh, "Of course you can, Carol. They're panties like any other."

Maggie bits her lower lip, "I'm so sorry! Glenn must have forgotten that wasn't only for me. He must have grabbed these because that's what he knows I'm always wearing.", she flinches seeing how uncomfortable Carol is just holding the tiny strip of black lace.

Holding a beige larger one but still clearly sexy, Beth asks, her tone hopeful, "Wanna change? Maybe you'll adapt more to it if you wear something more discreet."

Carol accepts the offer, but not without murmuring to herself, "I can't believe these where his first options while scavenging. He put his life at risk just to see you in lace!"

They all laugh at that, Glenn's infatuation with Maggie being an overused joke between them. Lori, the first to finish with the new clothes, turns to Carol, winking, "Wait till you try the jeans. You certainly have the bum for it. "

-oO0Oo-

"You guys ready?", Lori calls behind the wall they used to change in privacy from the men once everyone's wearing all the clothes they could manage against the cold.

"We're done ages ago! Come out already!", Daryl's bored answer came betraying a slight irritation, "Trust girls to take this long to change during the fucking apocalypse!"

One by one they came out from behind the ruined wall. Rick and Glenn both smiles to their girls giving them appreciative looks while Hershel just hugs Beth asking if she felt warmer with the new clothes. The boys are also wearing new, clean and more warmer clothes.

"Where the heck is Carol?", Daryl frowns, losing his patience.

"I-I'm... Just a minute!"

He scoffs and stalks to the wall, hitting what was left of the bricks with his palm open, "C'mon! This ain't a runway, nobody's gonna-", he pauses upon hearing T-Dog whistling, turning to finally see her.

Apparently wearing the most form fitting jeans made by human hands poor Carol is blushing furiously, her hands trying in vain to cover her ass as she walks to the others, leaving a speechless Daryl behind.

"You're very pretty, Carol.", he hears Rick saying politely, Lori giving him a soft smile in gratitude for his encouraging comment to their obvious insecure friend.

"Don't feel embarrassed, you're rocking the survival look.", Maggie says proudly to her friend.

Still dumbfound, Daryl splutters for two seconds before regaining his composure. He growls, "Y'all wanna take pictures too?", with two large steps he's beside Carol, "Better do your cat walk quickly, lady. Daylight's be gone in two hours and we have a camp to set for your lazy fashion butts!"

While everyone got to do their chores, Daryl catches himself looking at Carol more times than his brain deems necessary. It's a security matter, he tries to reason with himself: Lori has Rick, Maggie has Glenn and Beth has Hershel to look after them. It's only fair to Carol have this advantage too.

Besides, he doesn't trust T-Dog to save his own ass, he's not gonna let Carol's ass, distracting as it was right now, near his incompetent hands.

He looks again, grunting while chopping wood for the night fire. She's standing, satisfied with her own work arranging the sleeping bags around the fire. He can see the exact moment when she starts fidgeting, shyly looking around before reaching one hand in the universally known movement of pulling ones underwear from between ones ass cheeks over such tight jeans.

Daryl's back to work quickly and enthusiastically while thinking up new security reasons to not only to look after Carol, but be nearer too.

END


	2. Burgundy

**Title:** Burgundy

**Author:** Adriana Adurens (drikadas at tumblr)

**Standard disclaimers apply.**

**A.N.:** Set after Beside the Dying Fire, at the prison and pretending that Andrea and Michonne already joined the group. Edited on 06/05/2012: fixed minor errors and a plot doubt pointed by a reviewer.

* * *

After a close encounter with two walkers on a pharmacy, somehow they brought three boxes of permanent hair coloring alongside the antibiotics and gauze strips. Upon seeing them, Maggie let out a tiny squeak, grabbed all three against her chest and ran out of the room leaving the others to sort through the necessary items.

"What was that?", Glenn asked, only slightly worried at his girlfriend antics.

Before anyone could answer, they heard Beth and Maggie screaming excitedly, "Oh, my god! I'll call the others! They'll freak out!"

Suddenly, Beth appeared running, grabbed Lori, Carol and Andrea by their hands and pulled all three confused women with her.

"What? What's going on?", Lori asked, still holding a pair of winter boots with her other hand.

"Kid, we have work to do!", Andrea protested, although without freeing herself, since it was a while they saw Beth smiling like that.

"I'm sorry! We'll be back!", Carol tried calling the guys, poking her head again in the mess hall only to be pulled again.

Beth came back, pointed a finger at Michonne and ordered, "You too! Come on!", that was the last thing the men heard after she closed the doors with a resounding bam.

Glenn was the first to recover from the display, "Again… what was that?"

-oO0Oo-

"Girls, this is really nice and I think we're in real need of some distraction since we came to this prison… but I can't do this.", Lori said shrugging.

Carol was the first to understand her friend, frowning slightly, "Oh, the baby…"

"Yeah, he's probably infected already and all… but I don't want to add hair color chemicals to it.", she laughed adding, "But I want to help!"

Sitting in a circle, with the prison showers behind them, the girls all chorused a "yeah!" and started picking colors.

"I wanna try this blue black.", Andrea was the first to voice her choice, "I always wanted to try it but never had the courage to do it."

"You rebel!", Maggie giggled felling like she was a teenager again, "I wanna try this…", she paused, reading the label and making a face and saying solemnly, "Burgundy."

They all laughed, more carefree than they could remember. Carol saw Michonne smiling, not really enjoying the moment, and nudged her with her shoulder, "What color do you want?"

"Me?", she asked surprised, then rolled her eyes, saying, "Look at my hair, girl, I ain't coloring nothing today.", she scoffed.

"We still could try doing something different with your hair.", Beth said.

"We'll see…", she looked at Carol, and smiled knowingly, "And you, little bird? Won't color your feathers?"

Carol's hair had grown out a bit while on the run and now soft curls were adorning her face. She felt herself blushing before her friend's attention.

"I don't know…", she started timidly, holding a lock of grey hair between her fingers.

Maggie interrupted her, exclaiming, "No, ma'am! Lori and Michonne already said they won't do it! You got do it with us!"

Beth nodded with her sister, "What's the point in bringing you girls here if you're just gonna be cock blocks?"

"Beth!", Lori and Carol exclaimed, while the others laughed at the girl.

"Do you even know what a cock block is?", Maggie asked, punching her sister's arm.

Beth blushed furiously, but answered, "It's… something.", she looked around, "Something that blocks the cock."

Andrea raised an eyebrow, "It is."

"Someone too.", Michonne said, "Some people are professionals at blocking cocks."

All girls but Beth nodded gravely.

Lori sighed, clapping to raise attention, "Well, let's do it! Carol, I think you should try…"

-oO0Oo-

Daryl was returning from patrol around the prison when he saw a strange girl running to the baths. He paused looking around, then shot his arm as the girl ran again by him, ready to ask who she was when he saw her face, "Andrea?"

"I'm late for vigil, Daryl. Michonne's waiting for me. What do you want?", the now black haired woman asked impatiently. When he gave no answer, she sighed and resumed walking towards the tower.

Suddenly, a scream came from the baths and Lori and Beth came running from there, holding a bloody cloth. "Hey, hey, what happened?"

Beth cried from the end of the corridor, not looking back, "It's Carol!"

Daryl ran without waiting for any more explanations, missing the laughter that accompanied the girls out. He pushed the bathroom door and was welcomed to a sight he could never forget: Carol was knelling on the tile floor, wearing only her underwear and holding her head as blood dripped through her fingers on her shoulders.

"Daryl…", she started saying but he was already on her, manhandling her towards a shower.

He couldn't bring himself to say anything, he just kept moving trying to help, "It's ok, it's gonna be ok…", he repeatedly murmured, scared. Opening the tap, he washed the blood off of her head, but his eyes were slightly watering and he blinked, berating himself for losing it when she needed him most. Hell, she needed him now.

"Daryl, what?", Carol spluttered under the stream and tried to free herself from him but he kept holding her hands down, washing her head carefully, "Daryl!"

"Don't move, dammit!", he snarled to her, only to murmur again how she would be ok.

"You're ruining it!", Maggie exclaimed behind him, but he didn't hear her, neither saw her hair equally bloody or the fact that she was also only wearing underwear, "Daryl, she's ok!"

"I'm ok! Daryl, I'm fine!", finally, Carol managed to take his face in her hands and arranged herself to sit on his lap away from the shower stream, "I'm ok… it's the hair color… I'm ok."

Like a switch, his eyes went from cloudy to sharp again, "What the…", he ran his fingers through her hair and face, noticing how the deep red water stained her skin and his hands alike, "You're ok."

"I'm ok.", she said softly, caressing his face, smiling a little when he let out a pained sigh.

"Now, that's not what I call following the instructions, Carol.", Beth said from the door, holding clean towels, unfazed at how Daryl and Carol were both drenched wet and the awkward smile her sister was giving them, "I'm sorry I squished most of the product on the towel, but you're lucky 'cause you've really short hair and-", she paused after seeing the frantic signals from her sister, "Oh."

Daryl got up and tried to wash his hands under the shower stream, cussing when he noticed it wasn't an easy task. He gave up, just drying them on his cargo pants and exiting the room without looking or acknowledging the others girls.

Outside, he bumped with Lori, "Daryl? What're you doing here? We're using the showers, no men allowed!", she stopped at the glare he sent her, stepping out of his way to let him pass.

Before going inside the bathroom, she heard him grumbling something about Carol being stupid, and how she was beautiful anyway. Lori paused, looking at Daryl's retreating back, and then smiled already imagining how Carol was after another episode of protective watchdog Daryl.

END


	3. Tyreese

I like Tyreese too much to not let him have some fun with his tv characters buddies. Let's all pretend he'll be a TV character too, ok?

**A.N.:** I learned that all this time I was writing Glenn's name wrong! Also, I'm having a difficult time with Daryl's accent… English is not my first language and I know zero about accents. Some of these fics will be beta-ed others don't, depending on my beta's time availability, so if you spot something wrong, please do tell me, I'll fix it later so others innocents won't suffer through my grammar mistakes. ;)

Thanks for reading!

-oO0Oo-

They stopped at a slightly destroyed gas station to get fuel and food. There was a bar behind it, but Daryl and T-Dog confirmed it was empty save for the eaten bodies from a suicide couple. Everything was calm and the group took advantage of that going quickly to work, their movements almost mechanical stripping car after car of everything they could use. They should have known it was too good to be true.

They were forced to stop when fifteen or so walkers came behind the bar, moaning loudly upon seeing them. Those armed got in position, while those who couldn't fight tried to find the best place they could to protect themselves.

The rule was to not use guns until strictly necessary, but this also made the job a little bit harder on them. Daryl had his own way of fighting without guns with a big crowd: catch the walker's attention, run from them making the faster one and more likely the first to get him his target and kill. Rinse and repeat until only the slowest and harmless ones were left just about waiting for a nice and lazy kill. He sprinted from one side to the other of the road, making soft kissy noises adverting and leading the walkers away from the unarmed group.

He was enjoying killing those bastards once again, taking pleasure in giving himself points each time he nailed an eye socket, which was every time. He was slowly being surrounded by three sluggish geeks when he heard Beth gasping, "Oh, my God! There's one after Carol!"

Distracted, Daryl cursed when his arrow hit the walker's eyebrow before looking quickly to his right to see Carol still loading Glenn's car with supplies. She pushed the bag inside the trunk and ran. His eyes adverted back to his last two walkers; he needed to kill at least one more to be able to go after her.

With a speedy honed from years of practice, he loaded his bow and fired again. He didn't even waited to see it falling on the asphalt; confident that he had got the brain, Daryl turned his back to the last and more distant walker, his eyes scanning the gas station and road quickly for Carol. He found her on the floor behind a turned over pickup truck, crawling away from a walker.

A clear view to the walker's head was all that he needed, "I can get'cha from here, ya fucker.", he murmured, raising his hand to load his bow, only to groan quite loudly when he noticed he had just used his last arrow. Looking over his kills he saw the impossibility of going back to gather his arrows, with the laziest walker still coming to him.

"Damnit!", he cursed, taking the knife from his hip and killing the last walker just seconds before its grabby hands got to him. Grunting, he pulled his knife and ran as fast as he could to where Carol was.

Even before, when he saw how deeply fucked Carol situation was, he knew he couldn't make it on time, couldn't save her. He knew it was too late but that didn't stop him from trying, he still ran like the fool that he was. A fool that believed that a little girl could survive alone in a forest just waiting for him to rescue her. A fool that believed that his legs could run more than ever and make it on time for him to plant his knife on that's bastard skull.

He couldn't take his eyes away from her face, tears running free and teeth biting lips. She wouldn't scream, wouldn't make any noise to attract more walkers and jeopardize the group security. She would die because she was loading the damn car; couldn't she stop and be a little selfish for a second?

A shadow suddenly appeared over Carol and suddenly Daryl could only see blood splattering from the walker's head, the unexpected movement stopping him immediately. He couldn't decide if he was relieved for her narrow save or angered still for his own lateness.

"Are you ok?", a deep hoarse voice asked her, full of concern.

Carol had to hold back her sobbing before answering with a trembling voice, "Y-yes… th-thank you."

He was a large man, tall and strong built like Shane, but with dark glistering skin. He was kneeling in front of Carol, whispering something that Daryl couldn't make out. He realized then that he was still standing there gaping like a kid on his first time at the aquarium.

The stranger then did something that made Daryl splutter for words would his outrage not short-circuit his brain and ability to speak. That giant of a man took Carol in his arms and stood up, turning to look at the others.

"Looks like your friend hurt her ankle.", he said, smiling a little while Carol blushed furiously with her arms around his large neck.

Daryl wanted to punch the guy and demand who the hell he thought he was to go touching someone like that without permission. The fact that he was holding his knife with whitening knuckles did help to calm him down, but he only remained still because he wouldn't use it while the stranger had Carol on his arms.

"Thanks for saving our friend…", Rick took his leader role greeting the guy somewhat amicably, "Do you mind telling us who you are?"

"The name's Tyreese. My daughter and her shitty boyfriend are hidden that side of the road. We're looking for a safe place in this madness.", he said, nodding at his right where two holding hands teenagers came from behind the trees.

Daryl raised his eyebrow, his demeanor overflowing suspiciousness, but Rick just smiled while Hershel came forward to indicate a place for him to put Carol so he could take a look at her.

Tyreese, despite his size, was extremely careful with his burden putting her on a truck's bed and smiling charmingly, "Hope you get better soon, baby.", he said, tilting her chin up and winking when she looked at him. He nodded to Hershel before going off to talk with Rick.

Carol's blush grow stronger taking her neck and chest like a blanket. She was rigid and frightened, trying to ignore Maggie's knowing smiles and answering vaguely all questions Hershel asked her.

Adjusting his grip on his knife, Daryl felt his own face burning too, but for a complete different reason. He sure was grateful Tyreese saved Carol's life but he would be damned if he was going to trust this man near her again.

END


	4. Five Times

**Title:** Five times Carol didn't need Daryl and one time that she did.

**A.N.:** Thanks to everyone who reviewed these so far. This one isn't exactly a short story, but is still a one-shot. Again, if you see anything wrong, please, let me know. ;)

**To the person who asked if I could continue Tyreese:** maybe, if the inspiration hits, but I'm not making any promises. ;)

**If you have a prompt for me**, I would like to give it a try! Let me know your ideas here on ffnet or at my tumblr (drikadas).

* * *

It started back at Hershel's farm just after that night when he shouted at her.

She was folding dry clothes from the clothesline and dumping them on a big basket at her feet. There was a second basket half full that was from Lori's share, but the other woman was now throwing up what little they had for breakfast. When Carol finished, she looked at her and Lori's baskets and decided to put the clothes together and carry it all at once to the Winnebago.

She crouched down and held both handles before standing up but the weight was too much for the momentum and one side slipped from her sweaty hand.

Daryl's hand grabbed the handle at the same time her knee went up to hold the basket still.

Startled, she looked up with those clear eyes that were so easily to read. He saw fear being quickly replaced for wonder upon her realization that it was him. He could also tell that she was trying to hide the fact that she was happy to see him.

"I got it.", he grunted, easily taking all the weight from her knee and hands.

Immediately, Carol straightened up, holding the basket more firmly on her side and nodding at her knee pulled up, "No, thanks, I can do it.", she said covering his hand over the handle and finally putting her leg down.

He dropped the basket so suddenly that she had to bring her knee back up again for a second to stabilize the weight on her arms, but as soon as she had it, she started walking towards the Winnebago, leaving him behind and not looking back.

-oO0Oo-

The second time, they were riding for a good couple of hours when Daryl saw Glenn's car lights. They both stopped side by side on the road and talked quickly about what to do and where to go from there. With a few minutes they heard another motor engine sounding behind them and both tensed up grabbing their guns.

Daryl got out of his motorcycle and, without thinking about the act, offered his hand to Carol to help her out too. He was distracted still eyeing the road, one hand pointing the gun to whatever could show up ahead, but also worried about his and her vulnerable positions on the road. When he didn't felt her hand on his, he impatiently made to grab and reprimand her to go on quickly, but a soft voice startled him:

"Want me to get it for you?", Carol asked behind him.

Daryl looked over his shoulder and sure enough Carol was crouched behind Glenn's car with Maggie. He felt so stupid holding out his hand to nothing, worried about her safety when she had already got herself a safe place to begin with. The worst was that she was offering help to get his crossbow, as she assumed his hand gesture was.

He turned around, trying to forget the shame that only he knew about and felt, crouching behind his motorcycle and positioning his gun ready.

Turned out it was a known blue truck with T-Dog, Lori and Beth. The distraction was a good thing for him, trying to explain to a desperate Lori that yes, they were going back to the main road and no, we won't leave without making sure Rick and Carl were there.

When he got his motorcycle running again, felling Carol's tiny hands gripping his vest and her tights around his hips, he silently promised that he wasn't going to make a fool of himself anymore. Or he could try not to.

-oO0Oo-

The third time was the morning after Rick's confession about killing Shane and how they weren't living a democracy anymore. Daryl still felt confused about his conversation with Carol and couldn't understand what she wanted from him exactly.

Everybody was tired but with big adrenaline rushes all day and the cold weather they kept awake through most of the night. Daryl was nearly begging to be on watch duty after T-Dog and took the job quite seriously; trying to find anything moving behind the trees was better than checking constantly at Carol's futile attempts to sleep.

The girls, Hershel and T-Dog were the first to succumb to exhaustion when the first rays of sun came through the horizon. Glenn's head dropped besides Maggie an hour later and Rick kept jerking back to awareness each fifteen minutes or so, looking around scared then relaxing back against the brick wall, alone.

Daryl didn't sleep. He blinked hard against the morning light and, with the vulnerability of the night gone, he thought he could keep awake while hunting something from his watch spot. He went down of his wall only to fetch the dead squirrels. When Carol and Maggie started to rise he already had three with him.

People went on moving and checking the others; as Glenn woke up, Rick called Daryl to talk about their plans for the day. He could hear people waking up and talking behind them, some murmuring and others being loud enough for Rick to know there would be more questions about his recent behavior.

Carol's soft voice couldn't be heard amongst those, but Daryl knew her tone could be as gentle as a bird and pass unnoticed by most.

When Rick and he had something good planned they joined the others making breakfast with the squirrels Daryl had caught earlier. T-Dog had started a fire while Lori and Carol were trying do cook what meat Glenn and Maggie could get from the tiny animals.

What was weird were the dozen persimmons pulled together near a still sleeping Carl.

"It's nice, isn't it?", Hershel asked, offering him a bottle half full with water, "Carol saw the tree yesterday and went to get them right after she woke up today. They must be good, she got so many…"

Daryl fought against the water that threatened to came back through his nose, "She got these alone? By herself?"

Hershel looked at him, not really expecting a comment back from the tough hunter, but avid for any kind of conversation, "Well, yeah. It's right behind that brick wall, after all.", he said pointing at said wall where a persimmon tree could be seen not even thirty feet from them.

The persimmons were deliciously sweet and everyone feasted on them after eating that plain boring cocked squirrel meat. Except for Carol. She didn't eat the squirrel meat, saying she was fine with just her succulent fruit.

-oO0Oo-

"Woman, get me some food!"

Daryl was just outside the mess room when he heard one of the inmates from the prison barking this order.

He dismissed it and turned to go to his cell turned bedroom when he heard it again:

"Are you deaf? There's a man hungry here and I want my food now!", a loud bang followed the obnoxiously voice.

If it was Lori, she would have already screamed to the guy to get lost. As no other sound could be heard, Daryl sighed and walked back pushing the double doors open loudly. It was that grizzled fat guy, Axel, his looming figure uncomfortably near Carol.

They didn't noticed him, but he could see Carol speaking calmly, looking the guy directly in the eye, "… if that's all right with you?", he heard her saying.

Suddenly, Alex raised his hands in surrender, taking a step back from her, "All right, sorry.", he said sarcastically, "I was just trying to be friendly."

"I'm sure you can be your friendly self alone.", she said drying her hands on a towel and side stepping him, "I'm going to let you do your own meal in peace now."

Only then she noticed Daryl standing like a guard at the door, "Everythin' alright?", he said quite loudly, watching Axel turning to see him.

"Yes, he just wanted to use the kitchen alone.", she answered with a calm smile, passing him without a complain.

He just looked at Alex, grunting his response and warning at the same time.

-oO0Oo-

They all heard the screams but Daryl was the first to take running because he knew exactly whom one of those desperate voices belonged to. It came from the prison showers and he mentally went through the places he and Rick made sure to check and of course that place had been forgotten.

He couldn't say that he was annoyed at the fact that Carol didn't need him. It was confusing being spared the worry to always be looking for her and at the same time longing for one tiny moment to be able to show that he would always be there, even if he didn't know why he wanted to be there.

But he never hoped for a moment like this. And he never got it, anyway. Again she didn't need him.

Lori was curled up against a wall crying silently while Carol was throwing up the recently eaten prison food, wearing only her jeans and a bra, shaking like a leaf. A walker, or maybe a crawler since it had nothing waist down, was motionless at her side, its emaciated hands stretched out towards Lori and head smashed with a rusty pipe poking out of it.

Rick pushed past him and kneeled in front of Lori, trying to calm her. Maggie came rushing with Glenn and both went to Carol, asking if she was ok. T-Dog and Hershel kept the prisoners and others from entering.

"I'm ok…", he heard her answering, blatantly lying as she cried against Maggie's shoulders.

If it was anyone, Daryl would be making fun right now. It was obviously an easy kill: a walker without legs. He could have done it silently and no one would even know what had happened.

But it was her first kill.

Any type of violence was foreign on Carol, even in this apocalyptical world. It was like an unspoken rule everybody knew of: Carol wouldn't fight. Not because she couldn't, but because she didn't had it in her. She was to be protected and her way of protecting back was caring for others.

That was why Glenn was so quickly to drag the walker away from her, why Maggie was still hugging her, why T-Dog looked from the door like he knew something was lost. That was why Rick walked to her and apologized she had to do something like that but was eternally grateful for her quick reaction.

They knew being forced to kill would be harder on her than anyone else.

Then Daryl realized how he could help her. How she really needed him. Carol didn't need his strength to carry heavy things; his fighting strategies to find her a good place to hide from danger; his hunting skills to find food for her; his menacing posture against a stranger; she didn't need him even to protect herself from a walker.

She showed strength and independence and, as a normal Dixon reaction, he kept his distance. Maybe the problem was that he wasn't the right person to be with her, but he would never be the right person anyway.

"You ain't ok.", he said loudly, surprising himself walking to her and pulling her from Maggie. His movements were stilled for a moment when she looked at him, her eyes reflecting relief and trust for him, waiting without fear of whatever he might do.

He unbuttoned his shirt and covered her trembling form, resting a hand on her shoulder, "But you'll be ok."

She only gave a tiny nod still shaking, a frail looking thing on his too big shirt with droplets of geek blood on her face. But she stopped crying and he decided he could be proud of himself for that. He might never be the right person, but no one could stop him from trying to always be there, whether or not she needed him.

END


	5. Daryl Go

**Title:** There you go

Jealous!Daryl reviewer, you're lucky! Or not. I had a sudden inspiration last night and now you've, more or less, what you asked for. It started out as a crack thing, but, really, Daryl's just so serious when it's about someone making eyes at Carol.

This fic isn't related to the "Tyreese" one. **Daryl and Carol have an established relationship here.** You can link both fics if you want, but they aren't from the same universe.

As usual, if you guys see something wrong, please tell me.

Standard disclaimers apply. And I've nothing against Pink. Or Obama. Or Tyreese.

* * *

"Oh, my God! It's Pink!"

"What?"

-oO0Oo-

Between roars of laughter and incredulity Glenn, Maggie, Tyreese and Michonne managed to came back to the prison in one piece. There was no mistaking it: they had killed former singer Pink. Aside from Daryl, the only one to not know the celebrity the quartet had met, everybody were beyond themselves talking about how they hated or loved her songs, talking at the same time how the encounter happened and how they thought it would be nice to start meeting and killing celebrities.

"Obama would be my dream.", Glenn said, his eyes sparkling, "I mean, I loved the guy, but killing zombie Obama would be a honor."

Daryl, who was forbidden to be a part of the scavengers group yesterday, grunted his annoyance and, like a sore thumb, pushed past everyone who tried to be on his way out the mess hall and went directly to the showers.

There was that two second awkward silence when everyone looked at Carol, who simply blushed and tried to smile, failing miserably.

Although they all had their own cells turned bedrooms, privacy wasn't something one could easily achieve at the prison. Carol and Daryl's discussion last night was still ringing through the bars of their cell and everyone knew the reason why the redneck was so angry.

Tyreese, the reason, smiled warmly at Carol, talking loudly to take the unwanted attention from her, "That chick had some good music though!", he said, getting some nods in response, "I remember…"

-oO0Oo-

Daryl was fuming. He could actually fell the fumes going out of his ears while under the cold shower. He cursed, taking a bar soap and making enough lather to rub it on his hair. Carol gave him some nice flowery shampoo once but he liked his bar soap just fine.

He couldn't understand why she was so mad with him. He was the one who had all the reasons to be mad. All the plausible reasons to be jealous: she was a beautiful and caring woman, still an innocent even living in this hell of a world - before and after -, with delicate manners and a soft voice. What crazy men wouldn't desire that? She was the old-fashioned "marrying kind" living in a world where the only kind was the toughest. If he wasn't sharp she could escape through his fingers to some other's hands.

And that's what he feared most: he couldn't lose Carol. He knew Tyreese was better than him in so many ways and could do more to her than he did… but he was selfish and couldn't let her go.

But no, Carol didn't think like that. Beautiful? Innocent? She had laughed at his face and asked if he had really take notice whom he had slept the past months with. She didn't give herself half the worth her earlobe had. She didn't see what he did. Or what Tyreese see.

Daryl could still see her confused expression after he tried to explain his frustration, why he thought it was completely justified when had tried to stab a knife on the man's too-curious and petulant hand yesterday. He never had a serious relationship before, he didn't know how to talk to someone he cared about, really cared, that he was jealous and that she didn't make it easy being painfully oblivious to Tyreese.

He heard that damn booming laughter outside the showers and made quick work of the soap still in his hair, speeding up his movements under the shower stream. He wanted to get out of there before his eyes locked with the black man and that old already familiar urge to punch his guts out overtook him. Again.

He wouldn't give Carol any reason to defend the annoying fucker anymore. It was a nearly herculean effort trying to be the better men, but he would do it for her. Being away from her the last couple days as his punishment had been hard enough already. Not to mention being denied to scavenge only because Rick thought he would try to kill Tyreese instead of walkers.

"Man, we should make a chart!", Glenn's youthful voice came clear then when he opened the doors with Tyreese right behind him. A black giant near the chinaman, who visibly flinched when he noticed he was alone with the two of them.

Daryl went on like he didn't hear them. He closed the tap and took his towel, drying himself messily, more for show and less for efficiency.

"There you go… looking… pitiful.", Tyreese voice sounded around the stalls, almost shy, singing easily to a rhythm, "Just because _she_ let you go. Daryl go… talkin' bout you want _her_ back, but sometimes it be's like that."

Daryl's frowned, dropping his towel on the ground. _Is the bastard talking to me? Singing to me_? He exhaled deeply and blinked hard trying to focus his thoughts on Carol while his hands twitched, almost like he had involuntary muscles in them anxious to mold into tight fists.

His body was ready for a fight but Daryl stubbornly opened wide his fingers, shaking his hands and went to the pile of clean clothes near the door.

"Ty, please…", Glenn pleaded, probably not liking the tension on both his friends features, "If you're going to do this, warn me. I don't want to be here when shit goes down…"

Tyreese just laughed more, always good naturedly, and continued, "Daryl go! Talkin' bout you miss her so, that you love her so. Why you let her go? Yeah you know, 'cause your lies got old! Look at you. Daryl go!"

_That's it._ At this point, Daryl had only a pair of pants on when he turned to the black guy, narrowed eyes and shouting, "Do ya wanna sing to my fist too, Warbler?"

"No, he won't.", Glenn said, raising his hands in a placating way and then looking pointedly to Tyreese, "Neither do I."

"What's the matter? Thought ya would appreciate the song.", he smirked, lifting an eyebrow and saying, "So fitting."

"I would appreciate your ass minding its own business.", Daryl growled, pointing an accusing finger at the black man, above Glenn's head, almost touching him.

Tyreese eyed the finger with disgust, "Don't touch me, Elmer Fudd."

The insult wasn't new to Daryl. He grew up listening to the "nice" kids at school calling him that for years. Merle was livid when he listened it for the first time, and quickly taught Daryl to throw a punch every time a douchebag called him Elmer. An easy way to school expulsion too, he learned back then.

Normally, he would take Merle's advice: punch them until they learned how to respect someone's name. But Carol wouldn't like that.

"Don't touch what's clearly not yours, then.", he spat angrily taking a step back, but felling his feet moving back on their own, still wanting to fight.

"And, please,", Glenn called, squeezing out from between them, "Both of you, don't touch me. I'm out.", he completed quickly, "And bringing Rick back with me. And Carol."

That made the two men pause. Daryl exhaled through his nose like a bull, trying to calm himself while Tyreese stepped back, occupying his hands with his dirty clothes.

"Just…", Daryl said after a tense minute of silence, "She's the only thing I ever had… She's…", he tried to say, frustrated for not finding the right words in front of the other, for being Elmer Fudd all over again, "I never had something in my life that I could… That I could proudly say that was mine."

Tyreese smirked, showing no compassion, "She's not a thing for you to claim."

"No. Our relationship is.", Daryl said serious, looking the big man in the eye, "I'm proud of what we have."

Whether Tyreese understood the felling or not, he rolled his eyes, murmuring, "Whatever. If you fail her, I promise you I'll be the first to take your place."

Daryl nodded, suddenly felling exhausted. He never backed out of a so sure fight like that before.

"Daryl? Tyreese?", Rick appeared at the door, eyeing both men critically.

A tiny murmur sounded behind the sheriff's back, "Are they ok? Are they decent?"

Rick tried to hide his amusement, "Everything ok?"

"Yeah.", Daryl said, throwing a clean shirt over his head, grabbing his boots with one hand and walking towards the door, pushing past Rick to see a worried Carol, biting her bottom lip with both hands clasped over her heart.

Her eyes swept over him, and she let out a tiny sigh, "You ok?", she asked softly but still wary now trying to look past him and giving up when Rick closed the shower's door on them.

Daryl knew he looked like shit. He thought for a second that he should be angry at her for making him back away from a fight, for changing him like that. But just being near her again, hearing that worried voice again, worried for him, made him feel at easy and his body seemed to understand that, all the adrenaline dispersing him.

He nodded his answer, stepping closer to her, "Are you with me?", he asked, blinking the sudden tiredness from his face.

"Yeah.", she whispered softly, looking up expectantly at him.

He dropped his arm on her shoulders like a castaway finding a lifeboat after hours swimming without hope, "Then I'm fine.", he murmured back bringing her close, walking with her back to their cell.

END


End file.
